The Toronto Public Space Committee was a grassroots non-profit organisation run by a collective of passionate volunteers.
 Founded in 2001, we quickly became one of the loudest voices representing Toronto's streets, sidewalks, parks and alleyways.



The TPSC served as an umbrella organization for a series of advocacy projects and community events.  Over time, our spin-off projects each found a life of their own and no longer needed the TPSC.  The group stopped meeting as a “Committee” in 2009, and the name was formally retired in 2011.
The offspring of the TPSC incubator include: Toronto Guerilla Gardeners, Spacing Magazine, The Downtown Defence Project, The Human River, Art Attack and the recently launched Toronto Public Space Initiative.

The TPSC was dedicated to protecting our shared common spaces from excessive commercial influence and promoting urban inclusivity and diversity. While some see our streets only as an untapped source of advertising revenue we see protected public spaces as a fundamental pillar of a healthy democracy. We are citizens first, and consumers second. Public space should reflect this distinction.

Through our advocacy projects the TPSC tried to affect municipal policy, help shape the debate and create a space for concerned citizens to get involved and participate. Through our community events we lead by example by beautifying the city without a big budget, without sponsors and without logos. Together, we strove to reclaim our streets, create community and foster a culture of collective political engagement.

We won significant victories at City Hall, and engaged thousands of people through our newsletter, volunteer lists, and public events.

You can visit the archived TPSC website here (2001-2011), and/or get involved with any of the TPSC offspring projects here:

Art Attack
Downtown De-fence Project
Guerilla Gardeners
Human River
Spacing Magazine
Toronto Public Space Initiative (TPSI)